On 15 March, Li Zicheng returned to Xining, and it was already early afternoon, and he was about to go home, not wanting to meet two soldiers who had stayed behind in the rear office.

"My lord," the soldiers bowed to the ground, "Fang Zhi of the craftsman's workshop has been looking for your lord for several days!" ”

"Fang Zhi?" Li Zicheng muttered softly, Fang Zhi is a firearms craftsman, he came to find himself, it must be about firearms, either M1841 has a fall, or there are problems in its manufacturing.

In his mind, Sun Mengjie, Song Yulian, and Chen Qiudie are his closest family members in the world, especially Sun Mengjie, who is the concubine he is marrying, and is pregnant with his own child.

The door was closed, Li Zicheng stepped forward and knocked on the door, the room was quiet for a while, and then the footsteps moved, and the main door was opened with a "bang", Chen Qiudie eyebrows were affectionate, standing motionless at the main door, she had already taken off her short jacket, wearing a yellow-green cardigan skirt, and there was a vertical fold on the left and right sides, which happened to pass through the chest, lining the breasts more and more.

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Die'er, it's only been a few days, and you don't know your own adult?" ”

"Your Excellency!" Chen Qiudie's pair of butterfly eyes blinked a few times, and they were already slightly glowing, she stood behind Li Zicheng without caring about her own soldiers, flew over, and when she was one step away, her feet left the ground, jumped into Li Zicheng's arms.

"Butterfly, slow down, beware of falling!" Li Zicheng hugged Chen Qiudie tightly and hugged him into the house, but the butterfly was attached to him like a koala and refused to come down.

Song Yulian heard the movement, and also came out of the back room, saw Chen Qiudie's appearance, and said lightly: "Die'er, don't make trouble, adults have been tired all the way, let adults rest!" But he turned back to make tea for Li Zicheng.

"No," Chen Qiudie clamped Li Zicheng's waist between her legs, first stabilized the lower plate, hooked Li Zicheng's neck with both hands, and rested her head on Li Zicheng's broad shoulders, "The adult is a servant man, and the servant will be ......"

Li Zicheng laughed, sat down on a wooden chair, let Chen Qiudie ride on his legs, approached her neck, sniffed the fragrance first, and then patted her little face, and said: "I haven't seen you for a few days, Die'er's face is much fuller, I don't know if there is a ...... in other places."

"Look at it yourself!" Die'er put her arms around Li Zicheng's neck, her cheeks were already crimson, but a pair of butterfly eyes were staring at the deep eyes on the other side with anticipation.

Li Zicheng leaned down, kissed her on the red lips lightly, and said in a low voice: "My lord just came back to see you, I have to go out later, and in the evening, Lord Ben will come to clean you up again, don't beg for mercy when the time comes......"

"Don't be afraid, Butterfly...... And the mother! When Die'er heard that Li Zicheng was leaving, she was a little disappointed, and when she thought of the evening, a smile appeared on her little face, and she leaned close to Li Zicheng's ear and said, "My lord, my son...... The servant should also be like Sister Jie'er......"

Song Yulian happened to come over with tea, and when she heard Die'er's words in front of her, she not only blushed with her face, but also took a sip, "Die'er, don't mess around, come down quickly, in broad daylight, leaning on an adult, what does it look like?" There are also pro-soldiers outside! ”

"What are you afraid of? Can the pro-soldiers still manage the adults? Die'er raised her mouth, her eyes rounded, and she leaned against Li Zicheng's chest, "My lord, let's hurry up and get busy with official business, lest my mother want to talk about the fox character again!" ”

"The little fox comes down first," Li Zicheng couldn't help laughing, and patted her buttocks lightly, "Lord Ben still has to go out, if it's late, he may not be able to come back at night." ”

"Alright then!" Chen Qiudie reluctantly left that solid chest, but turned around and leaned her red lips over, the indescribable temptation in her eyes.

Li Zicheng pecked lightly, then got up and left the house and headed towards the craftsman's workshop.

Fang Zhi heard that Li Zicheng was coming, and hurriedly led a group of craftsmen out to pay respects, "The grass people are waiting to see the adults!" ”

"Get up," Li Zicheng waved his hand and asked the craftsmen to get up, "Fang Zhi is in a hurry to see me, but what is the problem in the development of the fire # gun?" ”

"My lord," although Fang Zhi stood respectfully in front of Li Zicheng, his eyes couldn't hide his excitement, "No problem, the fire # gun has been successful, I originally wanted the adults to come and see the starters, but unfortunately the adults are not in Xining!" ”

"Success?" Li Zicheng suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, "How is it, have you conducted a shooting test?" ”

"It's been tried," Fang Zhi still had tears in his eyes, although he had been suppressing, "Just like the adults said, the range of the Fire # Gun is far beyond our imagination, reaching six hundred steps!" ”

"Six hundred steps? How many times have you tried it? In Li Zicheng's drawings, the range of the M1841, converted into the "step" of the Ming Dynasty, should be 800 steps.

Considering the complexity of the process and the quality of the ferrous material, Li Zicheng estimated that the range of the M1841 could reach 400 steps, but he did not expect it to reach 600 steps.

However, Li Zicheng is still a little worried, the range of the fire # gun cannot be based on a certain shot, but with a large number of fire # guns, the vast majority of the standard is the effective range, as for the occasional ultra-long distance, or due to the soldier's good grasp of the fire # gun and other reasons, it can only be regarded as the maximum range.

"Don't worry, my lord, we have gone through more than ten launches, and the range can reach 600 steps."

"Ao," Li Zicheng was overjoyed, and said to He Xiaomi: "Xiaomi, go and try!" ”

"Yes, sir!" He Xiaomi came out of the ranks, Fang Zhi hurriedly took out the fire # gun, taught He Xiaomi to load, buckle, and aim, until He Xiaomi fully understood, and then handed over the fire # gun and paper shell bullets to him.

Under the guidance of Fang Zhi, He Xiaomi first pressed the paper shell bullet into the chamber of the gun from behind, and then carefully picked up the fire # gun and slowly aimed at the target six hundred steps away.

"Chief Flag Officer He, when aiming, you must use the front sight, the idea is three points and one line, it is not difficult to hit the target!" Fang Zhi was like an instructor, constantly guiding beside him.

He Xiaomi concentrated, closed his right eye, leaving only his left eye to observe the circular target in front of him, felt the three points and a line, and pulled the trigger suddenly.

"Bang!"

The brass bullet left the chamber and burst through the air rapidly, only a slight air friction sound could be heard in the ears, and the bullet had already arced and flew towards the target in front.

But the target in front of him did not move, and it was obviously off target.

He Xiaomi's expression was embarrassed, holding the fire # gun in his hand, still maintaining the posture of firing, not knowing what to do.

"Xiaomi, it's okay, the first shot, no one can guarantee a hit," Li Zicheng patted He Xiaomi's shoulder, comforted him, and then took the fire # gun, "Fang Zhi, bullets, I'll try it!" ”

"Adult......" Fang Zhi is not at ease, this kind of fire # gun, no one is familiar with the performance, in case there is an explosion...... The identity of the master of a thousand households is noble, but he can't eat and walk around.

What's more, if you finally meet an adult who reuses craftsmen, if there is an accident......

"It's okay, this is just the beginning, there will be no explosions."

In fact, Li Zicheng has no experience in shooting, although there is military training in high school and university in later generations, but it is only discipline and pace training, and there is no # shooting training at all, at most there are only a few rifles without bullets to satisfy the curiosity of the students.

Therefore, some people often say, "high school military training is to sell clothing, college military training is to sell girls", as for the actual effect, Li Zicheng felt that when he came to this world, the training of the queue was still somewhat useful, and the current Xining Army showed a different style from this world.

Under the guidance of Fang Zhi, Li Zicheng loaded the bullets and came to the target, he held his breath, his eyes were fixed on the round target in front of him through the crosshair and cover door on the barrel.

When you get the best feeling, pull the trigger hard, and with a "bang", the warhead whistles and flies towards the round target.

Under everyone's eyelids, the round target trembled violently.

"Hit!" "Hit!" The soldiers cheered.

"Hit!" Fang Zhi was also happy, "My lord, it's really rare to hit a round target with the first shot!" ”

"Oh?" If most people miss the first shot, it may not be a human problem, Li Zicheng came to the round target and looked at it carefully.

The copper warhead passed through the wooden round target, less than ten paces ahead, and landed on the ground.

Li Zicheng looked at this round target with a thickness of less than two centimeters, and muttered in his heart, the warhead fell within ten steps, indicating that when the bullet penetrated the wooden target, the kinetic energy had been exhausted, and it only flew forward by inertia, if the wooden target was slightly thicker, I am afraid it would be difficult to penetrate.

If on the battlefield, the Ming army is iron Mingguang armor, although the armor of the nomads is mainly leather, they often wear two or even three layers of leather armor, plus there is also the barrier of clothes, the distance of six hundred steps, can not be worn through at all.

No, the distance must be shortened, and with Xining's current technology, the M1841 cannot reach a distance of 600 steps at all.

"Fang Zhi, this kind of fire # gun, the effective distance can't reach six hundred steps at all, and letting the recruits shoot six hundred steps away is naturally embarrassing for them." Li Zicheng explained to Fang Zhi the relationship between the effective range and the maximum range.

For ordinary soldiers, it is enough to know the hit rate within the effective range, and only those special soldiers, such as sharpshooters or snipers, need to increase the range of the fire # gun to the maximum.

At least at the beginning of training, the maximum range is not required, unless it is to test the various functional data of this fire # gun.

In the matter of testing fire # gun data, it can't be handed over to the craftsmen, they are technicians, and they can't be mass-produced like soldiers for the time being, so they can't take this risk, Li Zicheng thought about it, and sent his own soldiers to inform Liu Yunshui and asked him to send two soldiers with good archery skills to test the gun in the craftsman's workshop.

"Fang Zhi, how many of these muskets have been made?"

"There is only this one," Fang Zhi's eyes suddenly lost concentration, "My lord, this first fire # gun, the barrel is completely hand-polished, and the speed is extremely slow, and we don't dare to produce more guns before the test results are ...... results."

"Don't worry, it's ready for mass production!" When Li Zicheng tried the gun for the second time just now, he found that when the effective range was set at 400 paces, it could basically meet the minimum requirements, including penetration, and besides, he had no good way to deal with the nomadic cavalry, what chariot formation, infantry formation, he didn't understand, and he didn't have enough soldiers and silver to build these expensive troops.

If there is enough silver and copper coins, he is ready to directly cross the paper shell bullets, use metal bullets, improve in the future, and even transform into a continuously firing machine gun will be easier, in the final analysis, Xining was not originally a fast independent land, it is only one of the many lands in the Ming Dynasty, in the social division of labor, only undertake the single task of domesticating war horses, so other aspects will be seriously insufficient.

"Your Excellency is saying that mass production is going to be? Testing while producing? ”

Li Zicheng doesn't have to worry about the process, this process has been tested by later generations, in case the fire # gun is unqualified, it is nothing more than a quality problem, from the point of view of the fire # gun just created, the effect is still good, the biggest problem is that after continuous firing, the barrel temperature is too high, will it affect the next launch, these are not fundamental contradictions, at least the fire # gun created can be used normally, "yes, is there any problem?" Liu Fang, didn't he make a mold? The speed of production should not be slow, right? ”

"My lord," Fang Zhi hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Part of the mold production, especially the mold of the barrel, plays a vital role in the rapid production of this fire # gun, the problem is pig iron, the pig iron that the craftsman workshop has now reserves can only make ten fire # guns at most." ”